Scottie Scheffler celebrates on the podium. GETTY IMAGES

The outcome of the men's golf tournament was surprising. Spain's Jon Rahm had everything going for him, but he faltered in the second half of the round. Neither the British Tommy Fleetwood was able to close a very good day and took the silver. Scheffler came from behind to win. Japan's Hideki Matsuyama took bronze.

World number one Scottie Scheffler equalled the Le Golf National record with 62 strokes. That's exactly what he needed to win the gold medal at Paris 2024. Norway's Rasmus Hojgaard reached that mark at the 2022 French Open. His brother Nicolai reached the same figure on Saturday, on the third day of the Olympic tournament. On the fourth, Scheffler has also achieved it.

The American player started the round with three birdies. That kept him in medal contention. Then he made par on six consecutive holes. Halfway through the round and he was at -13, a little way off the lead. The margin for error was running out.

Scheffler went on the attack in search of more birdies. And he found them. First on hole 10 and 12, and later he made four in a row, from hole 14 to 17. He was already in the lead, but he had to wait for the end of the last matches of the day.



Jon Rahm was going to make the American's comeback useless. At least, to get the gold. The Spanish player made six birdies in the first 10 holes and was at -20, four strokes ahead of his pursuers. If he did not slow down, he had the gold in his hands. But he slowed down. From the 11th hole onwards, everything went wrong. He made several mistakes, lost concentration and was left without a medal, fifth with -15.

When Rahm got worse, Tommy Fleetwood was the big favourite. He started from a better situation than Scheffler. On the 11th and 12th holes Rahm bogeyed and Fleetwood birdied. From being four strokes behind to be co-leader. The Briton made the next birdie on the 16th hole, and it was necessary, because Scheffler had already caught up with him in the standings.

With two holes to go, Fleetwood needed another birdie to seek a play-off with the world number one. The pressure got to him. Bogey on the 17th and the need to stay calm to avoid losing the silver medal. The par on the 18th gave him that prize.

Hideki Matsuyama has been through many states in Paris 2024. He was the leader on the first day, but on Friday and Saturday he went off the pace and on Sunday there were doubts about his real medal chances. On the fourth day, he was back to his best, a player who makes very few mistakes. No bogey and six birdies in the first 12 holes. If he had made any more he could have changed the colour of his medal, but bronze is a great prize.

The podium of men's golf tournament. GETTY IMAGES
The podium of men's golf tournament. GETTY IMAGES

The local golfer Victor Perez made the public dream. It was very difficult for him to get a medal and he almost got it. He closed the tournament with a card of 63 strokes and finished fourth, with -16, just one stroke behind Matsuyama.

The Olympic champion in Tokyo, Xander Schauffele, has been in the lead or very close to it all tournament, but on Sunday he had his worst day. He didn't start badly, he still had all the options, but he had problems at the same moment as Rahm and finished ninth.

Scheffler was emotional at the medal ceremony. Coming into a tournament like this as the world number one and not having all the top-ranked athletes in the world puts a lot of pressure on him. It seemed to do him good to see Simone Biles and the US artistic gymnastics team before competing in Paris.